Super consumers of news are flocking to X and other platforms that support independent journalism, diverse voices and embrace transparency. The post election TV ratings abyss is driven both by technology and by the public’s loss of trust in Mainstream media.
DEEP DIVE:
To buy MSNBC or not to buy?
This week’s headline that Comcast will spin off its cable channels underscores the tectonic shift in the media marketplace and how technology is providing the exit ramp for competing platforms.
When my job as a senior investigative correspondent at CBS News was terminated in February, I took a few months to educate myself about the marketplace because so much had changed since I left Fox in 2019. What I found was genuinely surprising, a little frightening and, oddly, re-assuring for the strength of our democracy.
You can’t argue with the data. It is compelling. On Election Day, according to @Xdata, the platform boasted record usage of 942 million posts worldwide and 2.2 million hours of watch or listen time over approximately 160k live events. The X data crushed engagement numbers for the mainstream media (MSM.)
Data@XData
X dominated the global conversation on the U.S. election, hitting all-time record highs.
7:11 PM • Nov 7, 2024
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By example, a Tucker Carlson interview on X has 35 million engagements. The CBS Evening News has 4.5 million viewers. If I had to choose, I’d take 30 million engagements on X because it represents explosive growth.
Tucker Carlson@TuckerCarlson
Ep. 12 Part 1. Devon Archer
6:00 PM • Aug 2, 2023
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The new super consumers of news are flocking to X and other platforms that support independent journalism, diverse voices, and embrace transparency which can strengthen democracy. This is nothing short of an industrial revolution driven both by technology and by loss of trust in corporate media.
In 2023, Human Rights lawyer Jacob Mchangama wrote about the upheaval and resulting, “elite panic.”
“Elite panic is this recurring phenomenon throughout the history of free speech, where whenever the public sphere is expanded, either through new communications technology, or to segments of the population that were previously marginalized, the traditional gatekeepers, the elites who control access to information, tend to fret about the dangers of allowing the unwashed mob — who are too fickle, too unsophisticated, too unlearned — unmediated access to information. They need information to be filtered through the responsible gatekeepers and it may be even more dangerous to allow them to speak without adult supervision. That’s a phenomenon that we see again and again. And we’re seeing it play out now on social media. … [Elite panic is] one contributing factor to the free speech recession.”
Free speech: Why it’s under attack and what can be done to promote diverse viewpoints
Human rights lawyer Jacob Mchangama discusses threats to freedom of expression across the globe — and why it’s important to protect this bedrock of democracy.
If you asked me four years ago, if a presidential candidate could skip a 60 Minutes interview, I would have been skeptical. Four years later, candidate Trump bypassed the legacy news magazine and instead, sat down with Joe Rogan. As of this writing, the marathon sit-down viewership reached 51 million views.
There is no doubt Rogan is a skilled interviewer who can draw out his subjects and deliver huge audiences. Compared to heavily edited network TV reports, the raw, unedited format reveals much about the subject. In politics, the podcast is perfectly suited for the “beer question” which measures a candidate’s authenticity and likability.
The progressive Harris campaign took a more traditional media approach and came up short. Neither celebrity endorsements which feel less relevant nor a 60 Minutes interview seemed to move the needle. The combined audience of the 60 Minutes Kamala Harris interview and its views on YouTube landed at about 10 million, far less than what Rogan and X delivered.
The legacy of the Kamala Harris 60 Minutes interview is not her responses but the lingering controversy over the CBS’ interview edit. And that is where the public’s loss of trust in the media comes in. I believe this is another driver of the audience exodus.
CBS aired two different answers from the Vice President to the same question from correspondent Bill Whitaker about the Israeli Prime Minister apparently ignoring the Biden Administration.
Face The Nation@FaceTheNation
MONDAY: On a @60Minutes election special, Bill Whitaker asks Vice President Kamala Harris if the U.S. lacks influence over American ally Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Watch a preview:
2:59 PM • Oct 6, 2024
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Since, a credible complaint has been filed at the FCC alleging “news distortion” at the network with a reasonable demand that the full, unedited Kamala Harris transcript be released. CBS News has said “it fairly presented the interview to inform the viewing audience and not to mislead it.”
In the October newsletter, I explained that releasing the full, unedited transcript would resolve these questions. There is ample precedent.
60 Minutes@60Minutes
With just 29 days until Election Day, Bill Whitaker sits down with Vice President Kamala Harris. One year after Hamas’ terror attack on Israel, Whitaker starts by asking Harris what the U.S. can do to prevent an all-out regional war in the Middle East. cbsn.ws/3U1BTmj
12:09 AM • Oct 8, 2024
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As a senior investigative correspondent at CBS News, I interviewed President Trump at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. I advocated for and CBS News published the full, unedited transcript.
The CBS News Trump interview was not a special case. The full, unedited transcript from Attorney General Bill Barr’s 2019 interview with CBS chief legal affairs correspondent Jan Crawford was also shared by the network. And more recently, 60 Minutes released the full unedited transcript of its interview with Fed Chair Jerome Powell.
If the current trend continues, in the 2028 election cycle, the broadcast networks will firmly take a back seat to podcasts, town halls, and investigative journalism on X. For independent journalists and small digital newsrooms, the challenge is developing revenue streams that are viable.
In February, I was not comforted by the analogy that losing my corporate reporting job was like getting pushed off the Titanic when there were still seats in the lifeboats. In retrospect, I wonder if it may turn out to be more accurate than I initially thought.
After turning down job offers for which I remain grateful, I began building the Catherine Herridge Reports brand on X and in the newsletter marketplace. These platforms are the new media beachheads. Content is King.
I’ll have more to say about the future of journalism and why journalism is called a profession for a reason. Look for exclusive new content on media accountability in the coming days!
Thank you for subscribing to our newsletter and supporting independent investigative journalism!
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A seasoned law enforcement contact believes the FBI’s pipe bomber probe is “absolutely a cold case,” and the newly released video footage and details about the suspect are part of the bureau’s “tickle the wire” approach to generate new leads.
The story of January 6th will never be fully understood until the pipe bomber is identified and their motive revealed.
DEEP DIVE:
This week, the FBI released new details and previously unseen video footage of its high priority suspect. I write ‘high priority’ because the reward, of up to $500k, is the kind of reward typically associated with global terrorist networks.
Pipe Bomb /DNC Office
Pipe Bomb / RNC
The timeline is well documented.
On the evening of January 5th 2021, sometime between 7:30 and 8:30 pm, the suspect planted two viable pipe bombs. One device was left near a bench outside the Democratic National Committee (DNC) office and a second device was planted in an alleyway behind the Republican National Committee (RNC) office. Both locations are a few short blocks from the U.S. Capitol building.
“When investigators lack leads or want to ‘tickle the wire,’ they may use things like crime anniversaries..to help get them fresh leads,” Scott Sweetow, a retired ATF and former acting Director of the FBI’s Terrorist Explosive Device Analytical Center, explained.
Seeking Information on Capitol Hill Pipe Bomb Suspect
Over the years, I have discussed the case with Sweetow and others. Some of the newly released information struck both of us as probably not ‘new’ to investigators.
The FBI estimates the pipe bomber’s height at 5’7”. Having convered the FBI since 9/11, it’s the kind of basic information I would expect investigators to immediately release. Asked if the FBI sat on the details, Sweetow said it also struck him as odd.
“Typically, in any investigation, you want to get maximum information out to the public to spur leads as opposed to waiting,” Sweetow said. “If there is particularly sensitive information which cannot be released, sometimes it is a tactical decision to withhold that, but given the length of time that has passed since the attempted bombings, it really made little investigative sense to hold back information like this for as long as they did.”
National Explosives Task Force “Quick Look” Report – January 7, 2021
I was among the first journalists to report on the pipe bombs. Three days after the pipe bombs were discovered, I obtained this law enforcement bulletin that raised questions about the bomber’s timing and motive.
The choice of the RNC and DNC had obvious political overtones. According to the law enforcement records, the RNC device was reported at approximately 12:45 pm eastern on January 6th in the alley, wedged next to a garbage bin. The DNC device was found a half hour later, at approximately 13:15 pm eastern, in the bushes outside the building.
Both devices were planted in lightly trafficked areas, suggesting the pipe bomber’s goal was to attract attention and not to inflict the greatest number of casualties.
In March 2021, I reviewed a second law enforcement report that summarized the FBI lab’s forensic report. A key finding: both devices relied on mechanical kitchen timers.
March 2021 National Explosives Task Force Report
“both devices’ switches consisted of a generic kitchen timer”
The Task Force report read, “…the forensic examination of a pipe bomb (device 1) indicated the device contained a powdery substance consistent with the oxidizer potassium nitrate, the fuel sulfur, and a fuel consistent with charcoal. A second pipe bomb (device 2) contained the low explosive black powder which consisted of the oxidizer potassium nitrate, the fuel sulphur and a fuel consistent with charcoal….Both devices’ switches consisted of a generic kitchen timer.”
“A wire ran from the zero side of the timer to the positive side of the 9-volt snap connector on device 1. The igniters on both devices consisted of one piece of steel wool with two alligator clips.”
Mechanical Kitchen Timers
The pipe bombs had some sophistication, combining a mechanical timer and electrical ignition system. There was no secondary means of detonating the devices. My contacts report most pipe bombs recovered in the US have a simpler design.
When you are investigating a story, there is no substitute for going to the scene, and getting as close to the evidence as possible. With some research, and the help of long time contacts, I purchased a similar kitchen timer (above.)
I was struck by a flaw that is apparently well known to bomb techs. The 60 minute timers depend on the mechanical energy of a spring. If they are not properly wound, the electrical circuit will not be completed and the device will malfunction.
While the photos are grainy, it appears at least one timer may have stopped short of “zero,” but it’s hard to say for sure.
All of this suggests the pipe bombs may have been designed to explode on January 5th. An explosion that night, hours before the Certification of Electoral Votes, would have fundamentally changed Capitol Hill’s security posture.
“Washington DC would have been locked down in a way few people have encountered, and substantial resources would have been marshaled due to the concern of additional attacks. Had this occurred, it is highly unlikely the subsequent events of January 6th could have occurred, as the capital would likely have been severely locked down,” Sweetow explained.
While the bomb maker(s) may not have understood the potential flaw inherent in the use of kitchen timers, the apparent lack of DNA evidence suggests the bomb maker was not an amateur.
“This is absolutely a cold case. In the immediate aftermath of the bombing, the FBI threw massive resources at the case, which is certainly understandable given the political nature of the targets and the location being Washington DC,” Sweetow emphasized. “The lack of forensic evidence in this case is highly unusual, and one of the most problematic things facing investigators.”
Aside from the newly released details from the FBI about the bomber’s height and distinctive sneakers, security videos from the street reveal another clue. Almost as unique as DNA, it’s called “gait analysis”.
Gait analysis is the way a person walks, their mannerisms, how they carry themselves. It can be a very powerful investigative tool. Military and law enforcement sources tell me they use gait analysis to help identify targets in the field.
“I have long felt that the mannerisms of the suspect, to include their gait, the way they bent over multiple times, and generally carried themselves was highly suggestive of a female,” Sweetow said. His analysis was backed up by a second contact, a retired Special Forces officer.
It is hard to reconcile the known facts in the pipe bomber case. Massive resources were expended by the FBI, but no suspect(s) have been publicly identified. The suspect seen in the videos may not be the bomb maker and, in fact, investigators maybe looking for a small cell.
While the bomb maker may have been tripped up by the kitchen timers, they were expert enough to apparently avoid leaving significant DNA evidence.
And lastly, the motive may have been distraction after a contentious election, not an explosion with significant casualties.
“Sometimes you never actually discover what the intent is of a bomber,” Sweetow said in closing. “The choice of political targets, following a very contentious election and impending congressional certification implies a political motive for the bomber. Because of that, it is possible the suspect wanted to cause general chaos in the National Capital Region in the hopes of eliciting some sort of action, although what that action was is difficult to say.”
This is a worthy case for the next FBI Director.
For its part, according to the AP, the FBI “has assessed over 600 tips, reviewed about 39,000 video files and conducted more than 1,000 interviews over the past four years.”
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“Alice” is a medically retired CIA Officer with two decades of government service
After years of quiet advocacy, a CIA whistleblower is speaking publicly for the first time about mysterious symptoms known as “Havana Syndrome” and accusing the intelligence community of a “cover up.”
We recently sat down with the medically retired CIA officer – we agreed to call “Alice” to shield her identity -– after a House GOP report found “it appears increasingly likely” a foreign adversary is behind these debilitating cognitive and neurological conditions.
The Congressional Report also called out the intelligence community for frustrating congressional oversight efforts to uncover the facts.
Alice said of the intelligence community leadership, “If they’re politicizing this, what else are they not telling the president? ”
DEEP DIVE
Our reporting is based on conversations with more than a dozen individuals who have explored or experienced the mysterious set of symptoms that takes its name from a cluster of cases, reported in Cuba, in 2016. Though the evidence indicates the incidents were happening much earlier.
The US government refers to it as “Anomalous Health Incidents” or AHIs. A previously disclosed National Security Memo confirmed intelligence information about “a high-powered microwave system weapon that may have the ability to weaken, intimidate, or kill an enemy over time and without leaving evidence.”
Microwave System Weapon Memo: Courtesy National Security Lawyer Mark Zaid
The memo continued, “The 2012 intelligence information indicated that this weapon is designed to bathe a target’s living quarters in microwaves, causing numerous physical effects, including a damaged nervous system.”
Alice, who spent two decades in government service, says she experienced an AHI in 2021. In many respects, her experience mirrors the National Security memo.
Alice, once trusted with the nation’s secrets, now relies on a service dog to navigate daily life. She takes a cocktail of drugs to manage chronic headaches, balance issues, nerve pain, eye tracking disorders, memory lapses among others.
Much of Alice’s work at the CIA remains classified to this day.
While our investigation explores new claims about directed energy weapons and their possible use by a foreign adversary, it also documents allegations of government gaslighting.
And importantly, it underscores credible claims that the intelligence community, specifically the CIA, has failed to care for its own people after they reported directed energy attacks.
A new bipartisan Senate Intelligence report faulted the CIA, finding “many individuals faced obstacles to timely and sufficient care.” The report went further, criticizing the Agency for halting its collection of clinical research. Meanwhile, the Defense Department’s work is ongoing.
“…the Committee nevertheless assesses that CIA may not be well postured to respond to future AHI reports and to facilitate quick, accessible. high-quality medical care for those who need it, particularly in the case of another AHI cluster.”
CONTEXT: THE DISCONNECT
This is an extraordinary group of national security personnel. They are highly vetted and trusted with the US government’s most closely guarded secrets. But after they reported AHIs to their leadership, they say they were dismissed as crazy and unstable. Some officers report their security clearances were pulled, limiting their ability to work in the future.
I complained to an intelligence official about the apparent disconnect. “Either they have the worst vetting system and they only pick crazy people, or in fact, their really talented, very smart, very dedicated people are being hit.” And the official had no response for me.
GOP HOUSE INVESTIGATION
In early December, the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, released an unclassified interim report. The CIA subcommittee chairman Rick Crawford (R-Arkansas) was highly critical of the Intelligence community leadership.
“I have discovered that there is reliable evidence to suggest that some Anomalous Health Incidents (AHIs) are the work of foreign adversaries,” Crawford said. “Sadly, the IC has actively attempted to impede our investigation, but we have nonetheless been able to gather significant evidence, and I have reason to believe that its claims of environmental or social factors explaining AHIs are false.”
Crawford, CIA Subcommittee Release Interim Report on Havana Syndrome
Asked if the House report findings amount to a government coverup, Alice did not hesitate. “It’s a coverup and it’s terrifying and it should be terrifying to all Americans.”
The new House congressional report conflicts with the 2023 Intelligence Community Assessment or ICA that found “..most IC agencies have concluded that it is ‘very unlikely’ a foreign adversary is responsible for the reported AHIs.”
“Thank God they’re saying it, “ Alice said of the house interim report. “Thank God they were brave enough to stand up to the CIA.”
Alice went further, “If they’re politicizing this, what else are they not telling the president and that’s scary. That’s where it becomes more real.”
LEADING EXPERT WEIGHS IN
Dr. James Giordano served as the consulting forensic neuroscientist on the original cases of AHI in Havana, Cuba.
“The recognized likelihood that a foreign peer competitor nation can be attributed to AHI engagements is both unsurprising, and validating, given my original analysis of AHI cases in Havana.”
Giordano is the Pellegrino Center Professor of Neurology and Biochemistry, at Georgetown University; and Executive Director of the Institute for Biodefense Research, a federally funded think tank focusing upon global biosecurity.
“I believe that this (house) report substantively validates the research community’s efforts to demonstrate that directed energy technologies were the source of AHIs, and appropriately recognizes those victims of these engagements who have suffered for so long with both the resulting signs and symptoms, and difficulties in acquiring the care and support they so direly needed.”
MULTIPLE WEAPONS – ATTACKS REPORTED DOMESTICALLY AND ABROAD
Alice’s injuries are so debilitating, she relies on a service dog. She needed multiple breaks during our interview. At times, she wore dark glasses to blunt the studio lights.
Respecting classification and sensitive matters related to her intelligence work, Alice could only share the basic outlines of her AHI experience in 2021.
“I was serving in Africa and I experienced an anomalous health incident in my home on a Saturday night,” Alice explained.
“I heard a weird noise. It was a really weird sound that I’ll never, never forget it… and after about a second or two, I felt it in my feet, kind of like the reverb from a speaker.”
In military and intelligence circles, they call it the kill zone or the X. If you are under attack, you need to get off the X.
When she moved off the X to another room, Alice said her partner provided the initial hint something was terribly wrong.
“I went into the master bedroom..and I said, ‘Hey, do you hear that weird noise?’ And the first sign that something was off, I should have known, was when he said, ‘what noise?’”
Alice left the bedroom and then experienced the strange sound for a second time.
“Immediately, as soon as I reentered the space, I heard the noise again. My ear started hurting. I started having vertigo. The room was spinning, my head started pulsing. It hurt so badly and I had a ton of pain in my left ear and my ears started ringing and I thought I was going to pass out. “
Alice believes there are multiple weapons which explain varying symptoms and diagnoses among AHI survivors from traumatic brain injury to memory failure, balance issues, eye tracking disorders and nerve pain.
“I think there are weapons that can be fit in backpacks, ones that can be fit in the trunks of cars, ones that can be planted at a position with line of sight to people from across the street.”
Based on our investigative reporting, many US government personnel who experienced AHIs were assigned portfolios linked to Russian interests from cybersecurity to election interference and disinformation. Others had specialized language skills.
While Alice would not discuss her work in Africa, she said she thinks Moscow is to blame. “I believe the Russian GRU (Russian military intelligence) came to my house late at night and took me off the battlefield.”
Alice and other intelligence professionals who experienced AHIs describe their brains being fried. Think of a computer: the hardware is still there, but the software is corrupted. You no longer get updates, you can’t connect the dots anymore. System components, like your balance, and vision, don’t work together. We were told some intelligence officers had to learn to walk again.
While we don’t have the whole picture, we understood that many officers who experienced AHIs were on a leadership track. Some privately question if there may be an insider threat. We will explore those questions and others in follow up reporting.
Asked if her old self died the day she experienced an AHI, Alice responded, “A little bit. I was paid for my brain. I was paid for my ability to write well and to write for the president. I was paid to meet with foreigners and to get information that would help advance US security objectives …and I can’t do that anymore the way I used to and it’s really, that’s one of the hardest parts.”
CASES SPIKE IN 2021 BEFORE RUSSIA INVADES UKRAINE
As cases spiked in 2021 the same year, Alice says she was hit, multiple sources told us CIA director Burns said privately that it was his personal belief Russia was behind some of the attacks.
“I think he’s a really good person at his core. I think he was being honest when he said he thought it was Russia,” Alice explained. “He is a Russia expert. He was the US ambassador there….I mean, I think it’s a sign of how political this is that even he fell in line.”
While an Intelligence Community panel of experts had uncovered evidence suggesting a directed energy weapon may be responsible, in 2023 the intelligence community took a different position. It released a new intelligence community assessment or ICA that Alice and other AHI survivors called a “slap in the face.”
2023 Intelligence Community Assessment AHIs
The ICA reads in part, “..most IC agencies have concluded that it is ‘very unlikely’ a foreign adversary is responsible for the reported AHIs. IC agencies have varying confidence levels, with two agencies at moderate-to-high confidence while three are at moderate confidence.”
Alice said the 2023 ICA did not meet CIA standards.”If I had received the finished paper on my desk as a team chief, I would’ve sent it back to the analyst and said, ’you have to start over again’ It didn’t meet any of our most basic tradecraft standards.”
Alice emphasized analysts are trained not to frame arguments around a lack of information.
The intelligence community assessment on AHIs also stood out to me because the coordinated media rollout seemed designed to push the controversial findings.
GASLIGHTING
Miriam Webster defines gaslighting as psychological manipulation that “causes the victim to question the validity of their own thoughts.”
Alice said the CIA was gaslighting her and other AHI survivors. “It was designed to make us think, ourselves, are crazy and to question our own injuries.”
Alice said she expected more from the CIA. “We swore this oath and every day I watch them really continue to deny people’s humanity and their injuries. People that put themselves and their families on the line in horrible, horribly dangerous places and situations to protect this country.”
Asked if it is reasonable to think that the intelligence community doesn’t want to acknowledge a foreign adversary, because then, they would have to act?
“Yes and it’s complicated with Russia, right?” Alice responded. “One theory we bat around – is it possible that it’s Russia and China? Is it possible that one country created it, sold it, or gave it to another country.”
We were told that even the prospect of a directed energy weapon attacking US personnel was bad for recruitment and bad for employee retention.
While the CIA still questions the cause, based on government records, the Labor Department does accept Alice’s Traumatic Brain Injury or TBI as a “work injury.” Alice qualified for limited compensation through a law called the Havana Act but she and others told us it falls short.
100K OUT OF POCKET MEDICAL EXPENSES
“It is a full-time job to try to get medical treatment and is another full-time job to try to handle the bureaucracy of trying to access benefits,” Alice emphasized. I’ve gone over a hundred thousand dollars out of pocket.”
Alice said AHI survivors need specialized care that is not covered by insurance. In many cases, effective treatments are experimental.
“The reality is a normal physician cannot help us. This is different. AHIs are much more complicated and we’re basically ticking time bombs. Catherine, I have already started having to go to funerals. Friends of mine, I mean my friend that was with me the day I got my dog has already passed away..a fellow AHI survivor, of a rare form of cancer. I have friends in nursing homes. I have friends with dementia and Parkinson’s. In some ways, people have a heart attack and if you don’t die of it, we know how to fix a heart attack. We don’t know how to fix this.”
CIA PULLS ALICE’S SECURITY CLEARANCE CITING “PSYCHOLOGICAL CONDITIONS”
According to heavily redacted government records, reviewed by our investigative team, after Alice retired, the CIA pulled her security clearance citing “psychological conditions” among other alleged issues.
Alice believes the revocation of her clearance was retaliation, adding that women who came forward about AHIs were treated differently by the CIA.
“It’s like we’re in the 1950s. They brought up, Could you be pregnant? Are you upset because you’re not pregnant? Is it hormones? Is it menopause? Is it perimenopause? Do you have an anxiety disorder?
Alice said the men who reported AHIs were not treated well either, but added, “there hasn’t been a systemic action against them.”
DOD LETTER “WE BELIEVE YOUR EXPERIENCES ARE REAL”
What’s striking is the lack of a coherent response across the US government. Alice and others who say they experienced AHIs get the greatest support and medical help from the Pentagon.
This March letter, obtained by our investigative team, was sent by the then head of the DoD AHI Cross-Functional team, Brigadier General Shannon O’Harren. The DoD Cross-Functional team addresses AHI medical needs and national security implications.
Brig Gen O’Harren, who now serves on the Joint Staff, wrote at the time, “We believe your experiences are real and we are unwaveringly committed to continue to provide quality care for you and those who are eligible.”
The March letter was sent to the AHI cohort after two reports found no medical explanation for their symptoms.
March 2024 Letter AHI Cross-Functional Team “Your Experiences Are Real.”
Alice told us the DoD letter was significant affirmation. “The Department of Defense believes us and has actually gone to bat for those of us from across the US government. I would not be getting care if it wasn’t for senior DOD leadership.”
It is hard to explain the apparent disconnect between the DoD letter and the Intelligence Community’s position that AHI symptoms were probably the result of “pre-existing conditions, conventional illnesses, and environmental factors.”
Alice argued the two are not hard to reconcile. “The brave people of the Department of Defense that have worked on this issue and were willing to stand up to the CIA.”
Asked why she is speaking up after years of quiet advocacy, Alice was blunt. “Because the CIA is betraying and not just betraying but making friends of mine and my life a living hell. I want them to stop hurting my friends. I want them to give everyone I care about medical care and Havana Act payments and to take care of us in the long term. I want them to stop denying what is happening to us and so there can be opportunities to collect the information that we need so that we can prevent this from happening to more people.”
Asked if a Trump/Vance administration can make a change, Alice was hopeful. “I’m not sure the phrase ‘cleaning up the swamp ‘is thrown around a lot in DC but at the bare minimum, I do not believe that those people that were involved in the earlier reports should be allowed to touch this. I think they need to actually recuse themselves or should be replaced.”
Alice predicted the CIA would respond to the allegations by saying “we take every reported case seriously and we’re committed to taking care of our people.” Alice said, “that’s what hurts so much because they’re not.”
Catherine Herridge@C__Herridge
FULL RESPONSES
In response to nearly a dozen questions, which included Alice’s claims of retaliation and sexist treatment of female officers, a CIA spokesperson provided the following statements.
“As the Director has said, we have no more profound obligation than to take care of our people and we have been determined to address this difficult challenge with honesty and compassion. To be clear, the IC’s findings do not call into question the experiences and real health issues that US Government personnel and their family members – including CIA’s own officers – have reported while serving our country. We will continue to remain alert to any risks to the health and wellbeing of Agency officers, to ensure access to care, and to provide officers with the compassion and respect they deserve.”
“CIA has not suspended officers or revoked their security clearances because of their reporting of AHIs.”
Because the CIA statements did not address our reporting that in 2021, CIA Director Burns said privately, it was his personal belief Russia was behind some AHIs, we followed up.
The CIA media office provided additional on the record comment.
“As the Director has said, he had his own assumptions when he became Director – so much so that he even warned his Russian counterparts in late 2021. But, as he has said, our analysts’ job is not to validate his assumptions, but to ensure an intensive and professional effort to get as close to ground truth as we can. And that is what we have done and continue to do.”the spokesperson provided a second statement.
The CIA spokesperson said of the bipartisan senate intelligence committee report that found CIA personnel faced delayed and insufficient care:
“We have no greater responsibility than to care for the health and safety of our people. Our dedication to fulfilling this obligation has been, and will continue to be, steadfast.
During the critical periods covered by this report, CIA had to design a response to a vexing problem as both our understanding of the problem and the problem itself evolved – including in the midst of the unprecedented global health pandemic that profoundly disrupted individuals’ access to standard healthcare, medical evaluations, and treatment. At the same time, CIA worked with the IC to conduct a deep and rigorous investigation into the possibility that foreign actors were harming US Government personnel and their families, while also working tirelessly to assist officers and their families in getting the care and support they needed and rightly deserved.
In that environment, supporting our officers and their families required us to dynamically adapt our programs and processes to changing needs and circumstances. Whether, in hindsight, we could have done better is for others to evaluate, but our commitment to ensuring that our officers and their families had access to the care they needed has never wavered.
In addition, while there was no consistent set of symptoms for those reporting possible AHIs, we nonetheless significantly shortened the timeline for individuals to access appropriate care and resources. CIA continues to provide support and access to facilitated treatment and resources.
CIA continues to approach every reported possible AHI with the utmost seriousness and compassion.”
Asked if the National Security Agency has intelligence in its holdings that cast doubt on the 2023 ICA findings that it was unlikely a foreign adversary was behind some attacks, a spokesperson said “we have nothing to give you on this topic, but would refer you to ODNI Media Relations.”
A spokesperson for the nation’s top intelligence official, the Director of National Intelligence or ODNI, strongly disagreed with the House GOP committee interim report among other issues.
The IC applied analytic objectivity and sound intelligence tradecraft to the 2023 ICA, complying with all IC analytic standards.
Most IC agencies assess that it is very unlikely a foreign adversary is responsible for the reported AHIs, and the assertion that we are withholding information that contradicts this analysis or would otherwise illuminate this complex subject is unfounded.
The IC has devoted significant effort to assessing potential causes of AHIs. Our investigation was among the most comprehensive in our history, bringing to bear the IC’s full operational, analytic, and technical capabilities and those of our partners.
The IC remains open to new intelligence and will continue to pursue new information. We will continue to do everything we can to protect the health and safety of our workforce and to care for our colleagues with compassion and professionalism.
We are fully committed to continuing to do everything we can to get our officers the care they need and to ensuring their safety – this is our highest priority.
Our analytic findings do not call into question the experiences and health issues that our colleagues, family members, and friends honestly reported.
(Regarding the HPSCI report) No, the IC does not agree with many of the report’s interim findings.
A DoD spokesperson for the Joint Staff said BG O’Harren did not dispute the authenticity of the March 2024 letter, obtained by our team, and he stands behind its contents.
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